


We'll Cut Some Place of Our Own

by swedishstylepatrol



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Original Character(s), side Merlin/Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 16:03:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6290911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swedishstylepatrol/pseuds/swedishstylepatrol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwaine sneaks into Merlin's room, sneaks out, sneaks back home, gets grounded, baby-sits his siblings, has his first time with Lance in someone else's house, steals some more condoms, gets embarrassed, comes home, puts his siblings to bed, plans a summer; it's all worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Cut Some Place of Our Own

It's easy to climb through Merlin's window, helped by the fact that the Emryses resided in a bungalow. Merlin's lights are off but Gwaine pushed the window up anyways (Merlin always leaves a sliver, just enough for Gwaine to get his finger in and heft it). Gwaine shucks off his shoes, doesn't bother untying his laces. He tkes off his dirty jacket, places it on Merlin's chair and climbs into bed. Merlin stirs and Gwaine waits for him to come to real consciousness. It's slow going but Gwaine's got all night. He's smiling like an idiot, staring up at the ceiling, the darkness, the thousands of glowing lights on Merlin's walls.

"You're cold," Merlin mutters, pulling his blankets back to himself, so his skin doesn't have to feel Gwaine's freezing skin. Gwaine chuckles and then promptly shuts up. He turns to Merlin.

"So?" Merlin asks, still groggy, his eyes half-closed. "Did he say yes?"

Gwaine smiles, can't keep his grin away from his mouth. Merlin nudges at him. "Your jeans are cold," he complains and Gwaine moves to unbuckle his belt and pull his pants off and carelessly throw them out of bed. He pulls some of Merlin's blankets towards him. It's a familiar fight, and neither of them win. Merlin's bed is way too small for two teenagers. Merlin's blankets are way too small to be shared. But they find a compromise; neither of them are happy about it but it is what it is.

"Yeah," Gwaine starts saying, sighing like a lovesick puppy. Merlin snuggles into him.

"What else?" Merlin asks, muffled. But Gwaine's not skimping details. Merlin would kick him out if he did.

"Well, we drove down to the lake. Cold as balls. I was going to jump. And I was going to make him. But he said he'd kill me if I tried. So we just stayed on the bed of the truck. I brought the blanket and a couple of bottles. It was real cozy, you were right."

"Damn right I'm right. Then what?"

"We just stared at the sky, the stars. He started going on about 'em. Like, I was listening at first but then he kept talking and I got lost so I just stared at him talking and then he stopped. And I turned away."

Merlin laughs, brings his hand to muffle it. "You're a fucking loser."

"Fuck. But true. So anyways, he said stuff, I said stuff. Then we kissed. Made out."

"Frenched with the French?"

Gwaine blanches. “That was pathetic, Merls." He shakes his head in disappointment, "I didn't raise you to say dumb stuff like that."

Merlin, offended, slightly pushes Gwaine off the tiny mattress.

"Don't." Gwaine hisses and finds his bearing. "As I was saying...We were kissing and then I go to touch him and we're touching --

"You suck at this."

"I'm not giving you intimate details. It'll just be an invitation for you to give me sordid details about your affair with Pendragon."

"Shut up, Gwaine. What if Mom hears you?"

"Oh so it's cool she hears my story and not yours..."

"Whatever. Besides me and Arthur have never, you know..."

"Princess doesn't put out huh."

"It's too...he can't..."

"Yeah, yeah. Not my problem. Back to me and Lance."

"You're touching."

"Right, so we're almost naked when he backs away. He tells me to stop and I'm thinking god like please don't tell me he's a prude and I'm just awaiting further instructions. He kisses me again, yeah? And then he says he doesn't want his first time on the back of a truck at midnight. And I go okay, sounds legit. He says he doesn't want to rush it and I go yeah makes sense. So we stop and I drive him home to the curb so his parents don't find out."

Merlin groans, "You didn't even do it. Why'd you come here? You have no story. It's three in the morning and you give me bull."

"Fuck you're right. I'm sorry I thought my bestie would appreciate me telling him about my almost first time."

"Were you even prepared?"

Gwaine blanches again, realizing how stupid he is, "Oh shit. Good thing we stopped then."

They fall asleep not too long after that. Gwaine wakes up sometime later, shimmies out of Merlin’s bed as quietly as he can which is to say not at all but Merlin doesn’t care, hasn’t minded all these times that Gwaine comes to sleep over. He puts on his jeans and his jacket and climbs out the same window.

He gets home just in time. It’s a learned art, sneaking inside the house without waking him mom up, or his siblings. Gwaine can hear his mom upstairs in the washroom and he knows there’s nothing more moms love than seeing their kids helping out around the house. Gwaine takes out the pan from the cupboard and places it on the stove, turns on the gas. He takes out the carton of eggs from the fridge. His mom comes downstairs, already dressed for her daily battles, just in time to see Gwaine crack two eggs into the pan. 

“That smells good, kid.”

Gwaine figures it never hurts to try to make his mom happy. He takes out a plate for her and slides the over easy eggs into it. He puts bread in the toaster and waits for that. She’s putting stuff in her bag and getting the smaller kids’ stuff ready for the day as she waits for the rest of breakfast. Gwaine’s working all the ends of it, manning the eggs, making sure the toasts don’t burn too much, and boiling the water for their morning coffee. 

When the toaster dings, he pulls out the two pieces and places it on her plate. He pops in another pair. 

“So, you had a good night, or should I say morning?” And shit, Gwaine should’ve known he wouldn’t get anything past her. He curses under his breath as he scrambles the eggs in the pan.

“How’d you know?”

She laughs at him, snorts too. “You’re my first kid. You were my only kid for a long time. I know you. And you were wearing those clothes yesterday. And you stink.”

Gwaine has to admit defeat then. She laughs heartily. “Try harder next time, maybe. So,” she says, biting a piece of buttered toast. “Tell me you made it worthwhile, at least.”

Gwaine can feel his cheeks redden. This isn’t something he should be talking to him mom about, but they’ve always been a close knit pair. Perhaps he won’t tell her sordid details but he nods, “Yup. Worth it.”

She gives him a motherly smile, proud. And then she smirks, “Good. ‘Cause you’re grounded for the next three days. No phone. No allowance. And you’re baby-sitting all weekend.”

Gwaine groans, “Mom, it’s a long weekend.” 

She nods, “I know. I’m taking the shifts at work for overtime hours, and you’re baby-sitting.”

“Ah, crap. I had plans, Mom.”

She stands up from where she’s sitting and cleans her plate off in the sinks and soaks it. She takes out the smaller plates for the kids and Gwaine distributes the mound of scrambled eggs between the four plates. His mom comes over to kiss him on the temple.

“Okay, kid. You can bring him over today.”

His mom is the best, Gwaine resolves. “Seriously?”

She leaves a tenner on the table in case they need extra things and then waves goodbye as she’s leaving. The sun hasn’t even fully come up yet, but she works crazy hours. She always has, since Gwaine’s dad died. She’s never expressed hatred for it. She goes because she has to, because her kids need to live. She never finds anything to complain about, and for that, Gwaine is thankful. Once, he thought his mom would have gone berserk when his dad died, but instead, well…it may sound berserk to other people, but she and Gwaine moved to Camelot and then she continued to foster some kids, until they wormed their mischievous selves into her heart. Gwaine loves having siblings; keeps him out of trouble.

When she’s out the door, he bounds up the stairs into the kids’ shared rooms and wakes them up. The girls always wake up before the boys. Gwaine ends up carrying all four of them down the stairs, very carefully. 

They make a mess eating. Which he’s ready for. Kids will be kids. He makes them wash their hands and their faces though because that’s just common sense. The four of them are brushing their teeth when Gwaine leans next to the doorway with his phone in his hands.

“You guys cool if a friend of mine comes over?” Quadruple thumbs approve him and he shoots a text instantly to Lance. He doesn’t have to wait for the reply. Gwaine tells Lance that he can come anytime, doesn’t have to be now when Lance asks with NOW? 

Gwaine rolls his eyes. NAH. Anytime u want.

Be there in an hr.

Gwaine fucking grins.

There’s nothing to do, no one has school, so he gathers the four kids in the living room and makes them pick between Anastasia and Lion King. It becomes a tied vote so Gwaine has to break the tie. “Anastasia, it is.” He pops in the DVD in the player and presses play. 

When Rasputin is scaring the kids with his face and his insanity, the doorbell rings. The kids all jump at it and Gwaine chuckles. The girls clench their hands around Gwaine’s arms, “He’s scary, Way, told you should’ve watched Lion King,” they say but Gwaine has to get the door so he gently pries their arms from him.

“Hold on, I gotta get the door.” 

Gwaine’s never been more excited to see Lance. Lance raises his hand to show Gwaine that he brought provisions.

“A four pack? Uh, can’t really drink with the kids here. But I’ll take it and save it for later.”

Lance visibly pales, “Ah, shi—Um, I totally forgot you were baby-sitting.”

Gwaine shrugs and takes the beers out of Lance’s hands and sneaks them into the fridge. Lance follows him inside. 

Lance takes off his shoes and places them on the mat and then walks into the open space of the living room.

Gwaine runs back there from the kitchen, “Come in. Make yourself comfortable.” Gwaine flourishes his hand. “Sit…uh…anywhere.” The kids are all looking at Lance instead of looking at the TV. Lance awkwardly waves at them.

Ava jumps from where she’s sitting, having forgetting all about nasty Rasputin.

Gwaine jogs to sweep her up by her waist before she tackles Lance.

Ava yelps and then the three monsters are completely torn from the movie to pay attention to the newcomer. Gwaine’s only so fast, and he’s already got an armful of Ava. He makes a grab for Klay but Alba slips past him and screaming, jumps into Lance’s arms. Lance is ready and steady and holds Alba in his arms like she doesn’t weigh anything. 

Gwaine watches the last of the four-headed monster as he stands up on the couch. Gwaine’s arms are full and he is staring down Tommy.

“No,” he says slowly, and Tommy stares back, challenges his older brother and Gwaine knows he’s going to lose this fight, he always does. Gwaine glances back at Lance, a look of warning. But then Lance just smiles at him, winks, and Tommy has no chance against Lance. Tommy and Alba wriggle in Lance’s arms and Gwaine tries to stop Ava and Klay from fighting each other in his arms. He drops them unceremoniously on the couch. He makes a show of his strength and makes a show of being weakened by them. Ava laughs at him.

Lance is nicer, obviously, and he places Alba first on the couch beside her sister. And then he sits down and keeps Tommy on his lap because there’s nowhere else to sit. The couch is small but it’s comfortable as hell. 

“Everyone sit quietly and watch Dmitri give up the money because he figured out he loved Anya.” The kids settle down; Ava crawls on Gwaine’s lap and pretends to sleep against his chest, Klay is watching the movie upside down with his legs on the back of the couch and his head tilted, Alba is leaning against Lance’s arm and Tommy is playing with Lance’s hair.

“You look like Dmitri,” Tommy comments, pulls at Lance’s brown locks. Tommy laughs, “Way is Anya.” Gwaine scoffs at his kid brother.

Gwaine feels dumb for blushing. 

Lance doesn’t say anything back, just smiles at Tommy. Ava, because she has to be involved in everything, decides to put her two cents into the discourse. “Gwaine’s not pretty like Anya.”

Gwaine pinches her playfully on the arm and she feigns a dramatic cry.

Lance laughs at it and Gwaine chucks a throw pillow at him, narrowly missing Tommy who knows to move out of the way. Lance deflects it.

“What’s your name, Dmitri?” Tommy asks when he’s righted up on Lance’s lap. 

“I’m Lancelot.”

Tommy raises an eyebrow, “Lance-a-lot?”

Lance shrugs, “You can call me Lance. And you are?”

Tommy points to himself, “I’m Tommy and that’s Alba and Klay and Ava.” 

“Nice to meet you guys,” Lance says, nodding at all of them.

“Do you like Gwaine?” Alba interjects, voice sleepy. She nudges Lance’s arm from where she’s leaning on him. 

Gwaine’s going to kill himself. This is so embarrassing. Lance looks over at him though, and then nods at Alba. “Uh, yeah. He’s great.” He says it with that fucking disarming charming smile. 

Gwaine wants to die. His heart is hammering and he hopes Ava won’t notice because she will never shut up about it and then she’s going to tell their mom. 

“Gwaine, you like Lance, too?” Alba turns to him. Gwaine doesn’t even hesitate.

“A lot. So don’t blow this for me.”

Alba jumps from where she’s comfortably sitting and charges at Gwaine.

“Way, is he your boyfriend?” 

Gwaine knows this is his yikes moment. If he says yes and Lance doesn’t feel the same, he’s fucked as hell. If he says no and Lance doesn’t feel the same, he’s in hot water, and if he says no and Lance does feel the same, well, Gwaine is ready for hell to swallow him up honestly.

He’s saved when the doorbell rings. They all look at each other and Gwaine stands up.

“Stay seated.”

The kids obey him and wait patiently. 

Gwaine is met with Merlin’s mom on the other side of the door which is weird because while she usually baby-sits on the weekdays, she must know that Gwaine’s at home.

“Hey,” she whispers at him, “saw your mom at her work. She said I should come by so you can go on a date.” Hunith is sneaking peeks into the house and giggles when she sees Lance. Lance waves at her and Hunith gives a small wave back. It’s no secret Lance is Merlin’s mom’s favourite of all Merlin’s friends. Even though she’s known Gwaine since he was a kid. Gwaine doesn’t take it personally. Personally, he thinks Lance deserves the honour.

He lets her in and the kids are once again hyped up at her presence.

Gwaine looks at her, still a bit confused, and then she gives him a wink. “Go ahead,” she says as she puts her bag down to greet the little ones. 

“Did she really? Did my mom seriously…” He doesn’t even know how to finish that sentence. “The kids…”

“Are going to be fine.” Hunith tells him, and her tone bars any argument he might think up.

Gwaine tilts his head at Lance and starts putting his shoes on.

“Way, where you going?” Klay asks, tumbling from the couch. 

“Me and Lance are going out okay. Are you going to be good for Hunith?”

Klay loves Gwaine. He was the first one they adopted so him and Gwaine are tight as any siblings are. He’s protective over Klay, because Klay has a big imagination and he jumps off couches pretending to fly, to be Superman and he bangs into walls yelling Hulk Smash! Klay emulates Gwaine sometimes, the recklessness, the hair flip. Gwaine picks Klay up off the floor and hugs him.

“You let your brother go, Klay, and we’ll make cookies for him when he gets back.” What can Gwaine say, Hunith knows the kids like they were her own. Klay asks to be put down immediately.

“See you later, Way!” Ava waves and follows Hunith to the kitchen. 

“See you later, Lance-a-lot!” Tommy yells next and Lance waves at him.

Once they’re out the door, Gwaine has an apology ready to go but Lance shuts him right up with a kiss.

Gwaine takes that as an affirmative pardon. 

“Hey, just so we’re clear next time Ava becomes nosy, because she will be; are we boyfriends or?”

Lance finds his hand and intertwines their fingers. “Totally, we’ll be so much better than Arthur and Merls though.”

Gwaine snorts like a dork, not a bright moment, but fuck it. “I like the way you think, du Lac.”

***

They end up meeting Arthur at the ice cream shop that Gwaine loves. Because Arthur works there, because Arthur is proving his dad a point, and is dutifully earning his own money. There’s no shame in serving ice cream. Gwaine would love to work there except he’s got four kids at home and he can’t deal with more. Also, he’d eat a whole tub and then he’d get fired as quick as he gets sick.

So Arthur’s there, behind the counter, scooping ice cream into waffle cones when Gwaine and Lance come in. Arthur obviously ignores them.

Gwaine leans on the counter, “Aww princess,” he mocks and he’s not buying himself any favours either. Arthur rolls his eyes, takes off his apron and hat, red and gold stripes, and says, “I’m on break.” Gwaine grunts. A blonde girl replaces Arthur’s station. She’s named Elena and she’s five hundred times nicer than Arthur. She serves up Rocky Road on a waffle bowl for Gwaine and a Mint Chocolate for Lance. She twirls her hair and tells them it’s on the house. But Gwaine feels super guilty for taking it without paying. He drops a bunch of change in the tip jar though. Lance adds a couple more in just because he’s that nice. 

Arthur’s outside now, drinking a soda and Gwaine and Lance join him on the curb. They sit side by side on the pavement, and it reminds Gwaine of when they were younger, just starting out middle school instead of being just a month shy of graduating high school.

Fuck, Gwaine thinks, time is too fast. He doesn’t think he’s ready to move on yet, or leave Camelot, or his mom, or his siblings, and be away from home just to study or work or whatever. As he watches Arthur, Gwaine feels a little sorry for the guy. Arthur’s life is planned out for him, has been since he was born. Arthur’s life is getting straight As. And acquainting himself with people beneficial to his future. (Merlin is an anomaly and can be deemed as a vice of the human heart. Arthur never thought he’d fall in love in high school.) But Arthur’s path is still so clear to him. Valedictorian. Then the best post-secondary education Pendragon money can buy. Somewhere outside of Camelot, somewhere far, somewhere that, if Arthur’s father is to be taken seriously, he won’t see Merlin for a long time. Gwaine wants to call their love a tragedy but Merlin is studious and persistent and he’ll find a way to be with Arthur. 

They’re kind of bastards for being that lucky to have each other. (Gwaine’s half angry, half jealous.)

But then he looks at Lance and he knows Lance is on the same boat as Gwaine. They’re kind of straddling different lines and paths; they’ve got choices. And the problem mostly, is that they don’t know which to choose.

“Hey, so, Merlin told me about you guys,” Arthur says, putting his root beer down on the ground beside him. He leans back on the pavement, forearms against the ground, carrying his weight. “You guys…on…and stuff.”

“Wow, you got a way with words, Pendragon.” Gwaine taunts him and he gets a slight admonishing nudge from Lance. 

“Fuck off, Green. But seriously, you guys figured out your shit, then?”

Lance leans backward so he can see Arthur without Gwaine blocking them. 

“Took us a lot faster than you and Merls, to be honest.” 

Arthur screws up his face at Lance, “Damn, du Lac, Gwaine’s a bad influence on you. You used to be nice.”

Lance returns the fake-scowl, “Says you. You used to be evil, Arthur. And now you have a heart.”

Gwaine’s favourite thing about Lance is how he looks like he’s the nicest person in the world but he can also dish out as good as they can. So versatile, Gwaine loves it.

“Where are you going afterwards?” 

Lance shrugs, and looks to Gwaine. Gwaine has no idea. Okay, maybe he has a kind of idea. But he’s not so sure it’s safe to say out loud, or to Arthur at that. 

“Oh, do you mind going over to Morgana’s house and watering her plants.”

Arthur fishes a key out of his pocket and gives it to Gwaine, even though neither of them have agreed to it. Gwaine takes the key though. He’d love to see the inside of Morgana’s house. 

“Is she…at work?” Gwaine asks, slowly. The topic is semi-sensitive because Morgana is a stripper and she’s not ashamed of it. But Arthur’s got some bad feelings about it. Not the profession or anything, Morgana is free to do whatever she wants. The thing that gnaws at Arthur is the fight between his sister and their father. Uther is, surprise surprise, decidedly against it, and Morgana is decidedly against him. Arthur’s just a kid torn between duty to his father and loyalty to his sister. Arthur’s working on it. He lives with his dad but he house-sits when Morgana’s out working or whatever else she does with her boyfriends and girlfriends.

“Yeah, for the whole weekend. But she loves her plants and I have to go back to dad’s house to entertain my potential mother-in-law. So can’t go to her house tonight. Do you mind?”

“Nah. We’ll do it.” 

“Is Merlin keeping you company as you suffer?”

“I’m bribing him.”

“With what?”

Arthur gestures to his body, “This.”

“Are you shitting me, dude? You and him finally going to do it then?”

Arthur shoves Gwaine, “Who the fuck said we haven’t?”

Gwaine smirks, “Merlin did. Last night.”

Lance gawks at Gwaine, “You were with Merlin.”

Gwaine shrugs, “Yeah I slept at his house.”

“What the fuck?” Is what he gets back from both of them simultaneously. He puts his hands up, balancing his bowl in one hand.

“Don’t shoot me. Sorry. Let me rephrase: I slept over like I have been doing since we were eight. Because I had a really amazing night with someone,” he stares at Lance for emphasis, “and I had to tell my bestie about it. Cool?”

Arthur and Lance’s confusion dissipates. Gwaine laughs at the looks on their faces, the embarrassment from being caught being jealous.

“Shit, I gotta go back in.” Arthur starts to stand up and then he pulls Gwaine and Lance from the ground. 

“Have fun, man. Good luck with mom number…seven?”

Arthur clicks his tongue at Gwaine, “Number eight actually.”

“Ah,” Gwaine nods. Lance pulls Arthur into a half-hug. 

“Thanks for dealing with Morg’s plants.”

“No problem, my liege.”

***

Morgana’s house is huge. 

“What do you think we’re going to find in here? Like a sex swing maybe? What if she has like, one of those stripper poles?” Gwaine closes the door behind them and locks it. Arthur says Morgana has plants all around the house and they have to water each one of them. 

“I’d rock it though.”

Lance stares at him, “What?”

“If she had a stripper pole, I’m just saying, I’d be proficient.”

“I dare you,” Lance challenges him, raising his eyebrows, waggling them. Gwaine is no stranger to challenges and Lance knows that.

“If we find one.”

Turns out, Morgana does not own any of the things they thought she was going to have. Or maybe she has more secret rooms that they just can’t find.

What they do find though, after they watered all the plans, is a big stash of condoms and lube. Like, Gwaine’s only seen this much probably at the convenience store, or a supermarket. It’s totally by coincidence that he finds it. If she ever asks, it’s totally by coincidence that he finds it and not because he was snooping and wanted to find out if maybe Arthur had some shit he was hiding in her house.

“Dude, she’s got like, different brands of lube.” 

“Gwaine!” Lance hisses but he goes into the room anyway and looks at Gwaine’s found treasure.

“We should take some.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She won’t notice.”

“What if she does?”

“That’s weird, like she counts her condoms?”

“Who knows.”

Lance has left his side, but he hasn’t left the room. He’s snooping around too, not in any drawers like Gwaine is but he’s looking through her stacks of CDs. Lance laughs so hard and Gwaine doesn’t get it until the CD player starts going and it’s playing Backstreet Boys’ As Long As You Love Me.

“No fucking way.”

Lance starts lip-syncing the lyrics as he advances towards Gwaine. They look ridiculous singing the song and gesturing at each other. When they’re a breath away, Gwaine forgets singing and kisses Lance instead. His hands are suddenly kind of clammy and he’s definitely hard. Lance is kissing him back and they fall back on the bed just as the song changes. 

“It’s a mix tape,” Lance whispers when Boyz II Men start singing. Gwaine laughs into Lance’s mouth as he kisses him again. Then he stops, remembering the night before. If the back of a truck isn’t proper let alone another person’s house. Gwaine makes a move to get off but Lance grabs the back of his neck and pulls him down. 

“I thought you said…”

Lance shrugs, “I mean. We’re at a stripper’s house. Boyz II Men is singing an appropriate song. There’s a box of condoms and a variety of lube. This bed is really fucking comfortable. Good a time as any.”

“You sure?”

“Gwaine, please.”

“You sure?”

Lance growls, “Gwaine. Fuck let’s do it.”

Gwaine shifts to take off his shirt and his pants and Lance starts doing the same thing. Gwaine takes out one of the condoms he nicked from the drawer and tears it open.

“You or me?”

“Shit,” Lance hesitates and then bites his lip, “You first.”

“Cool.”

“I’ll make love to you, like you want me to,” Gwaine sings as he pulls the covers over their naked bodies. 

***

Right.

So.

“What do I do with this?” Gwaine asks as he pulls the condom off of him. 

“Tie it up.”

“Then what? Should I flush it down the toilet?”

Lance laughs so loud, Gwaine is actually kind of offended. “Hey, I just blew your mind, can you please help me?”

“Dumb ass. Never flush it down the toilet. I don’t know. Roll it up in some tissue paper and then throw it in the garbage can.”

Gwaine rushes to the washroom. “Right.”

“We should probably leave soon,” Lance says but Gwaine knows he’s not making a move to get up from the bed. The smell of sex is probably overpowering the smell of lavender that was previously there.

But he’s right. They should probably leave. 

Gwaine rolls up the used condom and stuffs it under the other garbage in the bin just in case. He washes his hands and takes the small face towel hanging near the shower. Morgana will chop them up if she ever finds out, Gwaine’s sure of it.

“We should strip her bed.”

“You know how to wash it?” Gwaine nods. 

“Okay, you wash it, and I’ll go look for new bed covers.”

Gwaine hauls the linens to the laundry room down the hall and then comes back to the room. Lance is pulling a new cover over the bed and he goes over to help.

“She’ll fucking kill us.”

“Nah,” Lance says, confidently and Gwaine’s a little curious why he’s so sure she won’t. “Don’t worry about it. Gwen and I tried it before already; Morg’s totally cool.”

Gwaine stops moving, feels the room spin. “What? What?”

Lance looks up after he’s fluffed the pillow. “Oh,” he says with a pout when he sees that Gwaine’s probably as white as a sheet. “That’s payback for the whole Merlin thing you said awhile ago. Sorry.”

Gwaine sighs, “Fuck you, dude.”

Lance puts his clothes back on, “You just did. And me and Gwen have never done anything. She’s just my friend. But really, Morgana won’t get mad.” 

Gwaine is a little lost still. Lance is very capable of revenge, he loves it.

He shakes his head, “Okay. Fine. Good one. Also though, which one’s our song? As Long as You Love Me or I’ll Make Love to You?”

Lance throws a pillow at him. “Shut up.”

“No, seriously, which one?”

“Both,” Lance decides and Gwaine giggles. 

“We should take the mix tape.”

“Okay, she’ll kill us for that.”

They’re both clothed and decent and proper finally and it takes them a couple of minutes because they get distracted. Gwaine pulls three more condoms from her stash and a packet of lube just because these things go hand in hand. The washing machine groans to a stop and Gwaine transfers the sheets to the dryer which can stay where it is after it’s done. 

They get the hell out and lock up.

***

When they get back to Gwaine’s house, the kids are all conked out from too much sugar and Hunith is at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea. She smiles up at them, a knowing smile, and Gwaine wonders if she’ll gossip to his mom about this. 

“Thanks,” Gwaine says as she finishes her cup. “For everything.”

“They were no problem. Perfect little angels. Ava made you a muffin and Klay made you gingerbread cookies. And for you,” she turns her attention to Lance, “Tommy made you an L shaped cookie and Alba made you a muffin but she ate it because you took too long to come home. She said she hopes to see you again so she can give you one properly.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll definitely be around a lot probably. Not this weekend anymore though. Gwaine’s grounded.” Lance flashes him an adorable, pitying smile but Gwaine takes it all in stride.

“I better go,” Hunith says, kissing the two of them on their cheeks. “You boys behave now.” She lets herself out and Gwaine starts carrying the little sugar induced monkeys to their bedroom. Lance is nothing if not a gentleman so he carries the other two that Gwaine can’t.

Gwaine’ll wake them up for dinner later when their mom gets home. He should also probably start on that dinner. 

Lance hovers before he actually has to go.

“Look. I don’t know what your plans for the summer are, but I’m staying in town the whole time so…” Lance is also shy, can rival even Merlin in that but Gwaine’s strength, he thinks, is drawing Lance out of his shyness and making him feel comfortable. 

“So you can help me baby-sit these rascals for the summer then. Go to the swimming pool, make sure they don’t drown. Go watch movies at the park. Celebrate Independence Day and make bad choices but hopefully we don’t get injured or maimed. Celebrate our freedom with a bang.” 

Lance, the noble fucker, shrugs and smirks, “Guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”

“True. Seriously though, the kids will hurt me if they never see you again. Take your cookie.” Gwaine shoves the L shaped cookie at Lance. 

“Catch you later, then? Oh! And if you’re so inclined to tell Merlin about today, don’t forget the part where you thought it was okay to flush a used condom down the toilet.”

Gwaine’s got grad to think about, and post-secondary, and his career, and his future. But for now, he thinks the only thing he should really concern himself about is the summer. Grad’s as good as done, all he has to do is pass his finals and then he’s free. College can wait. His career can wait. The only future he’s looking forward to at the moment is the months before September. And there’s only really one choice to make about it. When his mom asks, at the end of August, if it was worth it, Gwaine will feel the itch of a tattoo on his shoulder blade, and the sting of a healing wound on his hand from picking apples, and the scratchiness of the beard he decides to grow, and the cool feel of the silver ring on his finger, he’ll tell his mom, wholeheartedly, that yeah, it was all worth it.


End file.
